Shriyans Singh, Grade 12

As technology has advanced, entities such as logistics companies have considered turning to self-driving transportation in order to facilitate lower costs and faster transportation (1). Considering the possibilities of self-driving, the impacts could be radical.

Factors such as climate change, costs, and lack of resources makes transportation harder and more important, self driving technology has been improving to attempt to help deal with the situation (1). Self driving vehicles will not have to worry about climate change affecting the driver, the risks of human error in transportation will be decreased, and the most efficient route will be chosen. However, criminals may try to hack deliveries with valuable cargo, can threaten jobs that involve driving, and the production of these vehicles will increase environmental pollution (1). Self-driving technologies are still an emerging field, and will have many vulnerabilities that will take time to fix.

Self driving cars will require much more complex and powerful parts compared to normal cars. These cars will require cameras to look for incoming objects and to see if the pathway is safe. RADAR is required to detect objects traveling towards and away from the vehicle. LIDAR is needed to track obstacles and ensure that the vehicle is staying a safe distance away. GPS is needed in both self driving cars and normal cars to help the user figure out where they need to go. Self driving vehicles will also require a more powerful computer, which will take more power and be less energy efficient.

Considering how self driving vehicles are still an emerging technology and the high risk of dangers of broken self driving software, tests should be required to allow self-driving vehicles out into the public (3). These tests should include situations where the safety of people are simulated, and should also be similar to what a “normal” driving test would require. Additionally, these tests should include simulations of more stressful situations to determine whether or not a car is truly road-worthy(3).

Self driving cars will have enormous effects on the economy. As self-driving cars are introduced, there will be an decrease in the need for human taxis, as self-driving cars will replace them (8). Delivery vehicles will still have humans in them, but they will have a reduced wage as they are not driving the vehicles themselves. Conversely, the economy will have large savings from the reduction of traffic accidents and the increase in fuel efficiency (2, 7). Trains will not need operators either, although maintenance will still be needed.

So, the impact on society as a whole is that there will be an decrease in driving based jobs. There will be new safety improvements, but there will also be an inherent risk in trusting self driving vehicles, which will have some basis in humans. Also, as society moves towards self driving cars, the increase in traveling is expected to be significant, as people will not have to worry about being tired or distracted (2). Self driving vehicles can help in emergency situations, such as where someone may have an inability to drive, but needs to get to a hospital. In this type of situation, having a self driving vehicle available could save lives. In a battlefield or disaster situation, risking additional lives to drive a vehicle into the danger zone wouldn’t be necessary, as the self driving vehicle could pick up the injured and bring them back to the hospital (7). Self driving vehicles will help deal with lack of land, as parking lots can become tighter. However, the increase in car use may cause traffic congestion and increased energy use, damaging the environment, putting greater costs on the consumers, and potentially leading to resource overuse (2, 5,7).

Now, the ethics for self driving vehicles are vague. How should a vehicle choose what to do in an lose lose situation? How does a vehicle decide what matters most? Will the software choose to follow the law, or will it prioritize safety (4)? Will privacy of consumers of self driving cars be kept or will dangerous situations be reported to the authorities (3)? These are all implications that have to be decided by society as a whole. Perhaps some locations will have different laws and rules regarding self driving cars, and there will be different actions on how they will be influenced.

While it is being debated whether or not self driving should be allowed due to the potential societal impacts and the ethics of the situation, alternatives to self driving cars everywhere should be considered. Perhaps expanding on public transportation and railways may increase safety and be good enough as an alternative (8). Maybe doing partial self driving is good enough, where it helps supports the driver, but is not the main driving force. In the end, the most important thing is to choose the option that leads to the best outcome for future generations.

1. Ryan, M. The Future of Transportation: Ethical, Legal, Social and Economic Impacts of Self-driving Vehicles in the Year 2025. Sci Eng Ethics 26, (2020).

2. Sivak, Michael, et al, “Potential Impacts of Self-Driving Vehicles on Household Vehicle Demand and Usage”, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, (2015)

3. Marletto, Geraldo “ Who will drive the transition to self-driving? A socio-technical analysis of the future impact of automated vehicles”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, (2019)

4. J. Borenstein, J. Herkert and K. Miller, “Self-Driving Cars: Ethical Responsibilities of Design Engineers,” in IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, (2017)

5. P. Szikora and N. Madarász, “Self-driving cars — The human side,” 2017 IEEE 14th International Scientific Conference on Informatics(2017)

6. Zmud, J., Sener, I. N., & Wagner, J. “Self-Driving Vehicles: Determinants of Adoption and Conditions of Usage”. Transportation Research Record, (2016)

7. Lee, Jooyoung, “Energy Implications of Self-Driving Vehicles”, Transportation Research Board, (2019)

8. Ji, Xiang; “The impact of self-driving cars on existing transportation networks”, AIP Conference Proceedings, (2018)